Goosebumps offers a decent dose of YA horror, marred by a bafflingly bad finale

The classic R.L. Stine book series that captivated horror readers of all ages has received yet another screen adaptation, this time in the form of a TV series. Goosebumps follows a group of high school students who become subject to supernatural forces that threaten to destroy their town and the ones they love.

The overall structure and vibe of the series is nothing entirely original, but it works. It operates like a standard teen drama/fantasy (à la Riverdale or Locke & Key) but with the sprinkling of Goosebumps-inspired supernatural horror. Rather than taking plots from the books and translating them 1:1, making an anthology of sorts, the series takes the general ideas from the novels and blends them into a serialised narrative. For instance, one episode will see one of our characters be the subject of some sort of supernatural terror – that terror is ripped out of a Goosebumps book, but the story is loosely adapted to fit within this world. Most episodes bring a classic Goosebumps idea to life, and as a fan of the O.G Goosebumps novels, seeing various recognisable stories on screen was fun. It’s a good structure, one that does well in balancing its book adaptations and new serialised story. The episodes in which a Goosebumps story is loosely adapted are the most fun as they inject that necessary bit of supernatural horror. However, not all good things last, as it all falls apart in truly baffling fashion.

This series’ surprising downfall lies within the handling of its climax… or shall I say climaxes. The final three episodes are a bewildering mess of conflicting creative ideas, confusing lore, surprising twists (not in a good way) and some of the most generic and cliché storytelling. Firstly, the eighth episode is structured and executed as if it’s a finale – it’s maybe the laziest and cheesiest idea without an ounce of originality, but at least it’s a fine conclusion to the story. Just one little snafu – there’s ten episodes in the season, meaning it’s not in fact the “true” finale as there’s another one to come. The presence of the final two episodes is still totally perplexing given the plot elements they touch on are hardly, if ever, touched on in the rest of the season. There’s a brief meta element that tries to validate the existence of these episodes, but it’s not enough to repair the jarring nature of them.

Up until this point the series had been fine, even pretty damn good in some instances, but the handling of this two-episode arc is atrocious. Firstly, it’s packed with teen relationship drama that’s painfully slow and draining, sucking all the fun out of the series by the minute. Secondly, where did all the horror go? Each episode early in the season did well to inject a small sprinkling of supernatural horror, but here this climax is largely void of that. Thirdly, the arc that’s tied to the lengthy flashback sequence and how Mr. Bratt plays into that is so sudden and random that this entire plot comes out of nowhere. That’s the real issue here – that there was no building towards any of this. If this second ending had been set up and teased throughout each episode, I believe the season would have been even better. It’s a strong conclusion with more interesting ideas, but for an entirely different show. The fakeout ending in episode eight is painfully unoriginal, but I’d take that any day over an ending that seems to be a last-minute rewrite that doesn’t link to anything that came before it.

Anyway, with that out of the way, let’s pivot to one of the things the series gets right – Justin Long (Mr. Bratt). As a long-time fan of Long, it’s great to see him have a little resurgence with appearances in this and 2022’s Barbarian. His character is put through wild and wacky scenarios, and Long does a fantastic job when it comes to selling the character’s hysterics and crazy, exaggerated personality. He’s without a doubt the best actor on the call sheet and it shows – he dives into the role and commits to both the darker and more comedic moments. Long’s scenes some of the most enjoyable and it’s thanks to how he plays into the crazy, supernatural experiences he’s having.

In contrast to Long’s performance, the cast of young actors are simply fine. The core group of teens have been cast with unknown actors who each have a small handful of random credits to their name. The inexperience does show in their performances, but it’s not a blight on the series. Zack Morris (Isaiah), Isa Briones (Margot), Miles McKenna (James), Ana Yi Puig (Isabella) and Will Price (Lucas) all do their best and deliver fine performances. They’re nothing to write home about, but they fit the characters well and seem to have some good chemistry. There’s a sprinkling of silly comedy here and there, and most of those successful beats are delivered by these young actors, so that’s a positive. That being said, Will Price definitely had the hardest time bringing his character to life. His character is an annoying doofus at first, but then suddenly becomes a pretty regular love interest for another character. With a personality that’s jarring and all over the place, the character is written poorly and not acted all that well.

One creative choice that irked me in every waking moment is the visual tone. It’s not an element that would make or break the series, but it definitely resulted in a less exciting viewing experience. The problem – every scene is made up of a wash of muted grey tones that makes everything feel grim and flat. There’s no colour in the world – even the night scenes look like they’re almost certainly shot in “day for night”, to where everything just looks ugly and lifeless. It gets so bad that unless someone’s eyes are brown, it’s impossible to tell specific eye colours like blue or green because it all just looks grey.

In the end, Goosebumps just barely scrapes over the finish line in terms of being an enjoyable series. It suffers heavily from a shocking final few episodes and a painfully dull colour palette, but does manage to nail the supernatural horror elements as it brings various Goosebumps tales to life. The first six episodes all have pleasantly enjoyable qualities – there’s solid storytelling and some well executed thrills courtesy of R.L. Stine’s library. It peaks in the sixth episode, in which Justin Long shines, as he does in all of his appearances. At the closing of the faux finale, this season was like a 7/10, so it’s lucky to still be at a 6/10 considering the awful ending they stitched together.

6/10